This Art Life in Ahwatukee

Wednesday, January 16, 2019

And it's been fun trying to figure out where to cut because my current creative experiment with craft felt is like a jigsaw puzzle. As with a lot of my work one creative adventure leads to new interpretations.

Sunday, December 16, 2018

Have you ever looked at old photos and wondered who they were? These long lost faces in photographs who stare out at you, but there is little to no context of who they were, except you know that someone loved them once, they existed once. It often evokes a poignancy and a reminder of one's mortality and eventual anonymity in the timeline of humanity. Millions of unique faces and the only record of their existence is in a portrait, or a photograph, or etched on rock, or a bust, a death mask, or recorded in a scratchy film.

I started a series of faces on stones with the intention of leaving them out for the public to find BUT that got sidelined because my bestie Jafapal Nancy made me promise NOT to give them away until I had done at least 50 and created an installation to photograph. So my stone series has evolved into several projects. Whether they get left out somewhere for the public to find or sold or remain in my possession is up in the air. We shall see how this evolves. Meantime I continue to paint faces on stones, and photograph them on collaged fashion magazine pages.I'm currently exploring other ways

to use them too.

There are some who love the stone faces, and others who are indifferent and then those who hate them and find them disturbing. I wonder if those that find them disturbing feel the same way about faces lost in time in found photographs. The sad realization that they too will be lost to humanity once they are gone, a stranger, a blip in the universe.

Wednesday, November 14, 2018

OLD POST but so much still applies:
Yep! that's what I am, addicted to art. If I am not making it, I am buying it, looking at it, sharing it, getting it, talking about it, photographing it, living it. Here is a photograph of my fave ceramic dog I purchased from the Golden Nugget Antique Market in Lambertville, New Jersey, on my fave coffee table with a sketchbook study of the skull on the vinyl record painting.

SETTING YOUR OWN AGENDA AS AN ARTIST

I hadn't really thought about whether I had a philosophy as an artist or not until the other day. I suppose it grew from the time theJafagirls started in 2005 as a result of a very disappointing exhibit we had. It was from that point we decided we were going to do things very differently.

Jerry Saltz states in his article about the general art market: "The agenda needs to be set by artists, not the market. ...Supply-and-demand thinking has to shift to production-and-experience thinking." source village voice.

Yoko Ono
This is a woman who set her own agenda to become one of the most prestigious conceptual/reluctant fluxus artist's of the 60's. While I am not a huge fan of conceptual art, there are some that resonate and Ono's "cut piece" was a really powerful statement and a unique personal expression.
Today she is still setting her own agenda
Yoko Ono's website "Imagine Peace" and her MySpace Page

So how are you setting your own agenda and how are you breaking from the confines of traditional means to present your art?

Saturday, November 10, 2018

Be creative with your life, that’s the important canvas” We thought we were just going for an hour hike HAH! turned out to a 4 1/2 hours. I like painting rocks, not climbing them. Just for the record I never leave painted rocks in State or National ParksStill it was an amazing experience.

This was like a tree portal with rock guardiansYeh! my mouth dropped open alright. The grandeur and beauty of the lake and the dell granite boulders that are 1.4 billion years old on the loop trail was awe inspiring and

Heart Rock

humbling. One section of the trail was called "over the hill" and I am thinking YES indeed I am feeling over the hill LOL!

My photographs may not do Watson Lake justice, but I like to think following the words of Harold Feinstein I've managed to share some of the awe.#JafaRocks Instagram@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

We were delighted to connect recently with one of Harold's former students, JoAnn Cancro. JoAnn is an accomplished fine art, cultural and event photographer who attended one of Harold's private workshops in New York during the 1990s. She was kind...

Monday, October 15, 2018

I got a flash of an idea one morning that I'd like to try and make an owl inspired by an ipad doodle I did a couple of years ago. Since I had no pattern I just ended up winging it each step of the way.

What fun trying to figure it out.

For those interested in the process

1. It started with crumpled paper for the core, masking tape to bind it until I got a general shape.

2. Wire and masking tape for the feet.

3. I then wrapped the form in plaster of paris casting tape.

4. Epoxy clay for the eyes (turkish evil eye beads for the center of the eye), the eyelids, the beak and the feet.

5. Once everything dried and hardened I then started cutting small pieces of fabric for the body and gluing each one on. Added frayed strips around the eyes and face.

6. Hand embroidered the wings

NOTE: Had I to do again I would have added some weights inside as it's very light and easy to knock over.

Friday, September 28, 2018

For those that might be interested please do check out my instagram. I am there more often posting about this art life with scenes of my travels, artwork, rock art, etc. For examples of my artwork please visit my website.

Jafa Rocks

Breast Cancer Radiation Series

I've been painting rocks a LONG time, usually the more elaborate one's are for a special reason, a show, a special cause, or my Radiation Rocks. Some people knit, or sew, or eat snacks, or do a crossword puzzle while watching their fave show or movie, whereas I doodle on an ipad or paint a rock. In Ahwatukee there is a great group called Ahwatukee Rocks but since I travel a lot and like to leave my rocks in places other than Ahwatukee is seemed to make more sense to just call them "jafa rocks by jafabrit".

Above these are some of my earliest stones from around 1990's that were framed and sold.

Saturday, September 01, 2018

Real one's are pretty expensive but THIS one is even MORE expensive, like ridiculously expensive because it's handmade. I made it for a Community Tiny Art show coming up in October at the Yellow Springs Arts Council in Yellow Springs, Ohio.

The only bummer is I won't be there to see it. I just know it's going to be filled with some awesome tiny art.

Saturday, August 11, 2018

How does one cultivate that intersection of life and art, or integrate it. The theme this week for Art is Life Life is Art is the word transforming and I am finding it difficult unless I showcase the obvious mutations of things, altered,converted, repurposed. This one is obvious, a crushed can found on the street and transformed into a piece of art.

Alias

This article is great but I can only see this applying if the artist is well known.

The Healing Power of Art is undeniable. It raises awareness. Its benefits are versatile and far-reaching. Art is a catalyst for positive transformation in all areas of human development and personal growth. Art has the potential to raise awareness about our individuality and humanity, our relationship to others and our bond with our environment.

Plenty of us create work that goes unnoticed and changes little to nothing. So I wonder if transforming within my life and seeing how it intersects with art is where I go with this.

Or do I think of the many hats I wear in life, hats that someone designed and showcases a profession or activity?

I guess we'll find out next week.UPDATE Sometimes we just overthink things. One evening as I tried to hurry and finish my swim before the storm hit an idea popped up and BOOM.

Wednesday, August 08, 2018

I was very inspired by conceptual artist Linda Montano's lifetime work of integrating art and life, along with her handbook for the Art Life Institute. I've often talked about living an art life, so while I can't confess to being a fan of conceptual art, much of what she has done resonated with me.My long distance jafapal, Nancy, and I decided to do a weekly postcard project for a month. Each week we pick a theme and our first one is orange. How we each interpret that will be up to us individually but at the end of the week it will be encapsulated in a postcard. AND would you believe I forgot to take a photo of my postcard lol!

Wearing my fave orange top and orange earring by my dear friends Karen Russell.Exploring the word orange and how it integrates into my life was like going down the rabbit hole.I discovered why Buddhist Monks wear orange, which led to me exploring the Four Noble Truths, which led to exploring what the second chakra is and how I could apply that to dealing with my chronic back and hamstring issues. I also discovered that orange is a colour I gravitate towards more than I realize, from the beautiful Turkish bed cover my daughter bought me, to a vintage Japanese kimono, a potato peeler, and a scrap of 60's carpet belonging to my dear Nana. Each has a special meaning and story behind them and are items I see and enjoy everyday.

The color orange radiates warmth and happiness, combining the physical energy and stimulation of red with the cheerfulness of yellow. Orange relates to 'gut reaction' or our gut instincts, as opposed to the physical reaction of red or the mental reaction of yellow. Orange offers emotional strength in difficult times.

Thursday, July 26, 2018

We thought we could escape the 115°f degrees in Phoenix by going to the mountain area up north to Prescott. I did doggie doodles on the two and a half hour drive up to Watson Lake. It's alovely drive and we were looking forward to a picnic in cooler temps, HAH! It was a cool 100°f and yes, we sat in our chairs under spindly branches offering tiny bits of shade. The benches were lovely

to look at but too hot to sit on, and absolutely no shade, so it was good we brought our own chairs. It was so hot my make up slid off my face. We had our picnic under the midday sun and a glorious view of Watson Lake as a storm moved across the sky. I closed my eyes and did this.

Friday, July 20, 2018

In Ahwatukee there are a LOT of jack rabbits and we get quite a few in our garden in the mornings. I never really thought about the name so I did a search and found out they are not actually rabbits but are in fact hares. Mark Twain seems to be credited for calling them jackass rabbits due to their large ears resembling an ass.

Since sitting at my computer or crouching over my art table is aggravating my back and is a no go for a wee while I'm using my iPad to draw. My go to drawing tool is a jot dash, which has a tip like a pencil and really does a great job with fine lines.

For those interested in the process I start out drawing on a pro fingerpaint app.

Then I import the drawing into procreate app to tweak and add layers. Once I’m satisfied with the image I may put it through a photo filter. This one went through two filters , mextures and distressedFX.